Peter Brussard

Nevada's Physical Setting

Nevada lies almost entirely within the Basin and Range physiographic province. This vast area covers about 300,000 square miles and is surrounded by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains on the west, the Columbia Plateau on the north, and the Colorado Plateau and Wasatch Front of the Rocky Mountains on the east. South of Nevada, the Basin and Range province extends into Mexico and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

Monarch Butterflies of Nevada

Almost everyone knows the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). The adults are large with wings colored a deep orange with black borders containing white spots; the caterpillars are pale green and ringed with black and yellow. It is the one butterfly that almost everybody recognizes by sight, and many people have watched it develop from egg to adult in school science classes. Given ample milkweed to feed on, the caterpillars develop from egg to pupa in about three weeks and emerge as adults about ten days after that.

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